Royal greenhouse, Franz hasn't been here for a long time. He looked at the "round radish" in his hand and felt a strong sense of disobedience.

This thing is the famous sugar beet, but it is far from the size that Franz has seen in later generations, and it is only about one-fifth of the size of the sugar beet in the Northeast in later generations.

(But in fact, the protagonists in later generations see all the beets that are placed on the bright side for people to admire, each weighing more than five kilograms, and the big ones can even reach about ten kilograms, but in fact, the average weight of normal beets is about 1 kilogram to 1.5 kilograms.) ）

Beet sugar production is actually a waste, although 30% of the world's sugar production in later generations came from this crop.

Some will tell you that sugar beets make up half of the sugar industry! But what they don't actually say is that sugar beet is arable for 48% of the world's sugar crops.

In terms of sugar yield, sugar beets are not as good as sugar cane. Moreover, in the nineteenth century, the sugar beet production process was completely different from the cane sugar process, which had a history of thousands of years, and it was extremely immature, after all, it was only a new thing that emerged from 1800.

Moreover, the sugar content of sugar beets that have not been genetically modified is frighteningly low, and the unit yield is unsatisfactory.

But as soon as this crop appeared, it was valued by European countries, which is also a helpless thing, and Europa, which is located in the temperate and subarctic zones, cannot grow sugarcane.

In Europe, sugar used to be a treasure that could only be eaten by the upper class, and it was only taken out when important guests visited.

The vast majority of people in Europe could not afford to eat sugar, and this situation did not change until the Age of Discovery.

In order to increase the sugar crop, the Europeans set off from Europe to Africa, exchanging their own cheap goods for a large number of black slaves to send to the Americas, which is the notorious triangular trade.

But Europeans were still prescient in some respects, and from 1800 onwards almost all major European countries began to grow sugar beet.

Even France, which has experienced war and two regime changes, has never interrupted its support for the sugar beet industry. This turned the number of sugar mills in France from one to 61 in 1844.

Not to be outdone, the Germans and the Russians have increased the area of sugar beet cultivated land dozens of times, so much fanfare, but Franz feels that it is far from enough.

Prussia, for example, had a population of 16 million and only 1,500 tons of sugar, averaging only 0.1 kilograms per person.

At this time, Prussians consumed 2.5 kg of sugar per capita per year, which meant that their self-sufficiency rate was only 4%.

At this time, the per capita annual sugar consumption in France was 5 kilograms, and in the United Kingdom, it reached an outrageous 10 kilograms.

Historically, Austria had a measly 0.8 kilograms, which was only 0.5 kilograms higher than the Italian states and Spain, but at this time the annual per capita sugar consumption of the Austrian Empire reached 4 kilograms, five times that of history.

This is mainly due to Mexico's ally, which was historically the largest sugar producer of its time, but whose position was preserved by the impact of the Mexican-American War, which still accounts for 9% of the world's sugar production.

(Historically, in 1844, the total sugar production in the world was 1 million tons, and Mexico produced 90,000 tons of sugar.) ）

However, Mexico has not lost much land, and the political situation is relatively stable, and the leadership of the Austrian-Mexican joint development company has increased Mexico's sugar production to 150,000 tons, accounting for 14% of the world's total.

And 80% of this sugar was used by Tasan Anna to pay off debts and exchange materials, and Austria got so much sugar that naturally allowed the people to enjoy low-cost and high-quality white sugar.

Of course, in addition to the other Central American colonies and West African colonies, most of the cane sugar was shipped back to Austria, which gave rise to the prosperity of the sweet party in Vienna.

But sooner or later, the days of sucking blood from the colonies would end, and it was because Franz had a firm grip on the source of sugar that the price could be suppressed.

But if the beet sugar industry had not developed, Austria would not have been able to compete with the cheap sugar from abroad.

At that time, if the Austrians still wanted cheap sugar, it would lead to a sugar war. White sugar has so many uses, it is not only a food, but also a strategic material.

That's right, this is a strategic material, because sugar can be used to make alcohol, used in industry, used in medical disinfection. Sugar was also one of the earliest placebos, soothing the wounded hearts of soldiers and boosting morale.

This is an important part of the capitalist military theory of later generations, and the side with more materials will definitely win.

Sugar can be used not only indirectly in warfare, but also directly in warfare, yes, it can actually increase the power of explosives, as long as it is mixed in a certain proportion, and can even be used as a propellant.

So if Austria wants to become a real powerhouse, sugar is also one of the essential raw materials.

But what gave Franz a headache was that he had not developed any new varieties for several years, and at the same time, the sugar beet production process was also very backward, and eighteen tons of sugar beets could only make one ton of sugar.

Modern technology only needs eight tons of sugar beets to squeeze one ton of sugar, but at this time, the technology of sugarcane sugar production can already achieve the effect of ten tons of sugarcane and one ton of sugar.

This can't help but make him feel that the future is a little bleak, in fact, white sugar can be stored for a very long time, even up to ten years.

Franz may have chosen to stock up in advance enough sugar to cover the war costs, so that more arable land can be used to grow food

But he soon rejected this idea, after all, beet sugar production is not only for war, but also to control prices and regulate demand.

Franz knew he had a long way to go, and he couldn't just look at the present, let alone ignore it.

Moreover, Franz could not directly abandon the cheap cane sugar overseas and directly support the sugar beet industry in his own country.

But he can create false impressions and rumors that beet sugar is healthier and more suitable for consumption than cane sugar.

At the same time, when manufacturing weapons and developing industry, a large number of beet sugar were purchased, and the reason was naturally that beet sugar was purer, and as for how pure and healthy, it could only rely on the brains of the people at that time.

Unlike sugar beets, sugarcane expands very quickly and can grow in patches with little care as long as the temperature and soil are right.

As for the variety and technology problems that Franz was worried about, it was not really a problem, and there was not much room for improvement in the sugar content between sugar beet varieties before there was microscopic genetic improvement technology.

Even if genetic improvement technology is used, it only shortens the growth cycle of sugar beets, and does not have a big impact on the sugar yield.

As for the technical issues, in 1850, the sugar beet technology will advance by leaps and bounds, and the ratio of feed to sugar will drop from 18 to 1 to 11 to 1.

So Franz's entanglement is not very significant, of course, if it is studied in advance, it can indeed make a wave of quick money.

And thanks to the promotion of chemical fertilizers and agricultural machinery, as well as scientific farming methods, the yield of sugar beet per acre in Austria is much higher than that of the rest of Europe.

However, the total amount of sugar beet sugar produced every year is only 7,000 tons, which is still a huge gap compared to 30,000 tons in France.

Franz's plan is to double the total amount of sugar beet sugar produced in Austria within four years.

(End of chapter)